TrueTomHarley

Well - sometimes topic is as fluid as gender is these days. Beef with me over gender and I will have your job, as though I was at the university. Same with topic. "When the four Muslim men invited me inside, I thought: ‘uh oh. Terrorists!’ But there was no real reason to think that, so I stepped inside and took the seat offered me on the couch. They were just four young men sharing an apartment; plenty of American-born students do the same. It was a pigsty; but then, so was my apartment when I was in school. (my wife inexplicably thinks that my study still is!) I started playing the ‘Why Study the Bible?’ video, but there was much chatter. They apologized for it; two of them were translating for the other two. I took the video back and replayed it in Arabic. "They were astounded to read ‘Jehovah’ at Ps 83:18; “I have never seen this before,” one of them said. He certainly didn’t roll over and give up; he wanted me to read the Quran. “Not any Quran. A good one.” Mohammed is the prophet more recent than Jesus, he said. ‘Ah, but did he die for our sins?’ But the brother taking the lead in our area’s Arabic group said, with so many refugees absolutely fed up with the violence done in the name of God when all they want is simply to live in peace, that they just pass over any who want to argue in any way; they’ll bid them a good day, and move on. There’s just so many who are instantly drawn to the biblical teaching of a paradise earth. Maybe on the next go-round they’ll speak to the ideologues, but not now – and the current round is huge. It’s probably good, though, if you can let them know that the Bible’s teaching on God’s oneness and against idolatry squares with their own: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold the work of human hands. A mouth they have, but they cannot speak; Eyes, but they cannot see; ears they have, but they cannot hear. There is no breath in their mouth. The people who make them will become just like them, as will all those who trust in them.” (Psalm 135:15-18) "When I return to these guys, before I go anywhere, I’ll point out how Jehovah’s Witnesses are politically neutral and don’t vote. I’ve heard the terrorist argument that there are no innocent civilians in the West, since they the elect the leaders who go on to commit atrocious misdeeds." - Tom Irregardless and Me

This is why you do not squabble overmuch about 607 or anything else. 'Facts' are unstable building blocks that can be fashioned into palaces or outhouses. You don't blow 607 off as nothing, but neither do you let it spoil your day. Focus on the facts on the ground. The dispute will be like the food pyramid that stands for decades and is literally turned upon its head. It will be like the generation avoiding fat because the scientists said so only to find that businesspeople had bought science and sugar is the culprit. It will be even be like the mathematical proof that the sum of all natural numbers is -1/12. Or that black holes violate either relativity or quantum physics. It is the heart one must work to develop, not the head. For every Bible verse there is about the head, there are ten about the heart. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of focusing on the heart is that people cannot argue themselves right! - gutting the underpinnings of many a forum.

We cannot reinvent the wheel forever because you are too lazy to come up to speed. Several threads are dedicated to this. Find one and comment on it. Try not to repeat what has already been said.

I like this. Never tell someone he is wrong. Redirect his remarks to acknowledge that he makes a good point.

Well, it certainly is shorter than the answer that precedes it.

Come now, Chaz. Get a grip.

There are several new kids in town.

He tried to intervene on this forum, too, but he found he couldn't mix it up more than it already was.

Sometimes kids need a bit of soap for the mouth.

I don't even have a clue as to how it will be 2018 in a week.

There's a new kid in town.

The cool things about recruiting Jehovah's Witnesses is that they work free. You gotta admit, there is a parallel. The movie was on pause when I posted last, so my wife could make popcorn which we will throw my daughter's dog a few kernels. You would like it even without knowing about the game

Odd. I am right now watching the movie Moneyball with my wife who likes it.

Listen to Witness, @Nana Fofana She is the one who knows the way to God. She will help you. (Gen 1:1-Mal 4:6, Matt 1:1-Rev 22:21) The letter she is simply beside herself to share - so excited! - is dismissed by Rabbi Michael Berenbaum, former director of the U.S. Holocaust Museum, as inconsequential. It is dated 1933. The infant Nazi government had just emerged and Witnesses tried to reassure it that they were apolitical and not a threat. It is no more sinister than that. Later, the regime would show its true colors and Witnesses faced the greatest evil of modern times. Um - the Librarian may flag me for this, but....I can almost hear the sirens from the State Hospital.

You heard wrong. You heard wrong.

This should always be acknowledged. We don't do it. They do. If it were done in addition to, not instead of, the work Christ primarily assigns his followers, it would put them head and shoulders above anyone else. (assuming good moral standards elsewhere) The illustration I like is of the couple who hires a babysitter to care for the children. When they return, they find the children neglected and the babysitter has painted the ceiling. Even though the ceiling did need painting, they are not happy. The reason Jehovah's Witnesses do not rebuild the whole city is that they are mostly volunteers using vacation time, which is not unlimited. The answer is for all other groups to be similarly mobilized. Yes. Would that each Catholic was involved in the noble works you speak of.

A snitch at Bethel told me 47 of those Helpers were caught shoplifting from boutiques last month and that was the reason for the article. Also, CNBC has reported, or should have, that over 6000 boutiques went out of business last year due to customer theft. It is a crisis rivaling the one of opioids. A spokesman for the industry said: "If only more religious organizations would talk about how the flying scroll of Zechariah condemns stealing instead of trying to spin it in airheaded ways."

No, it doesn't tell them that - how can you be such a child? Still, I will concede that it is a bit, um - not subtle. But it teaches a lesson that adults have hammered at children since the beginning of time - pay attention. If you don't despise the cause you will have no problem with it. The zealots of New York State bombard me with a host of PA's that regularly spoil my mood. One emphasizing the value of school shows a little girl hopelessly lost in class because she missed some school. She can't even make out the teachers voice, which is muffled to her, as though she was underwater. The concluding logo reads 'every minute of school matters.' The poor child missed a few minutes of school and now she is dumb as a fence post. You should hunt up that video so you can complain about it.

A very good friend of mine loves dogs. On any return visit he will remember the name of the dog but not the people. Sometimes he begins by asking specifically for the dog. This approach often wins him an ear more than if he had just said something standard, though I don't think he does it for that reason. He's just nuts about dogs.

I don't think many have. I don't buy the model. I think it causes people to give up too easily once they find their spouse is not the soul mate they thought he/she was. Love is a muscle - think agape love - that grows as you exercise it. Having done so, it makes both of you better persons. Of course, you do not stack the odds against you. You start with the most compatible person you can find. But the success rate for arranged marriages is greater than that of soul-mate ones, which argues against the latter. http://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2010/09/love-marriage-and-soulmates.html

Have they disallowed some? I thought that was only @allensmith28 or allen of some other number. Gasp! Has it ever happened to me (beyond the one obvious one)? I haven't entirely figured out Trom. Not only must I apply the finishing touches but also the starting touches. No matter. I like him. There's a great many I haven't figured out.

Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow! I just read that archaeologists have been exploring in the desert plains of Pennsylvania. Under the Great Pyramid of Pittsburgh they have discovered the last words of Charles Taze Russell. GASP! All religious and pop history must be rewritten! His final words, long attributed to someone else, are: And now, the end is near And so I face the final curtain My friend, I'll say it clear I'll state my case, of which I'm certain I've lived a life that's full I've traveled each and every highway But more, much more than this I did it my way Regrets, I've had a few But then again, too few to mention I did what I had to do And saw it through without exemption I planned each charted course Each careful step along the byway And more, much more than this I did it my way Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew But through it all, when there was doubt I ate it up and spit it out I faced it all and I stood tall And did it my way I've loved, I've laughed and cried I've had my fill my share of losing And now, as tears subside I find it all so amusing To think I did all that And may I say - not in a shy way Oh no, oh no, not me I did it my way For what is a man, what has he got If not himself, then he has naught To say the things he truly feels And not the words of one who kneels The record shows I took the blows And did it my way Yes, it was my way Sociologists predict that the ranks of Jehovah's Witnesses will explode - swelled by the ranks of people who love the new emphasis on independence. And - NO, this cannot be true! But it is! He wrote it in the year 607! That science is great stuff. Pour me a double-shot of it.

I realize he is just playing. This is no slam on him. But I like the Peter Sellers movie Being There in which Chauncy very slowly explains to political leaders how one season follows another. They treat him with the greatest deference, and assume that he is speaking so slowly so as to allow them to grasp the economic implications of allowing the business cycle to play out. In actuality, he is a mentally challenged man who has difficulty recalling the order of the seasons.

Seemingly no. But within context, yes. First of all, the scroll of Zechariah specifically condemns stealing - it is a full 50% of its message. You would think that a person who quotes more scriptures than every other commenter combined would have noted this. This is too much - it really is. One wonders if Witness herself does not steal from boutiques, for she declares trivial and irrelevant the actual message of the scroll. Instead, she applies it to the theocratic organization that does not recognize her authority. The context of the paragraph, which merely follows the lead of the Bible - offering a practical example of theft that young people especially will identify with - is the spiritual paradise that Jehovah's Witnesses enjoy. It does not take much to destroy a paradise. One sicko inserted one razor blade in one apple and the celebration of Halloween changed forever. At the Regional Convention I can drop my wallet and be reasonably certain it will turn up at the lost and found. Can I do that outside of the spiritual paradise? There is a reasonable chance that the wallet will come back to me. But with the money within it? Unlikely. It may happen. But I will not hold my breath. Teaching not to steal at a very mundane level is the very stuff of Christianity. It is what makes all the rest of it work. I both admire the GB (and also suspect they are naive) in that they teach what needs to be taught without regard for self-appointed experts who will invariably seize upon their material and try to beat them over the head with it. They need better PR. Or maybe they don't. Maybe it is just me who thinks they do. Jesus didn't seem too concerned about PR, either.

Here is a 14 year-old girl who sexted an explicit picture of herself to her boyfriend via Snapchat - and he spread it about widely. Guys will do things like that and girls should not be dumb. https://www.rt.com/usa/414031-aclu-girl-selfie-child-porn/ She is looking at 10 years felony jail time for violation of Minnesota's child-porn law. The ACLU spokesperson defending her says this is a "teachable moment" for parents to inform the girl that her actions have consequences. Tell me about it. It is also a "cautionary tale," the ACLU adds. Yes. It IS cautionary for a 14 year old trying to live in an insane world supplied her by adults that pushes powerful social media tools, a sexually promiscuous culture, and then ten years for making use of them. Only RT.com picks this story up (besides local media), probably in a quest to embarrass the West, but that is hard to do because the West routinely embarrasses itself yet feels no embarrassment. To the contrary, it parades around in its wisdom. Meanwhile – ‘wisdom from the mouth of babes’ – the girl says “Sexting is common among teens at my school, and we shouldn’t face charges for doing it. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I’m going through.” Of course. It is a no-brainer. It is not that what she did wasn’t wrong – it is that the entire adult world should be prosecuted ahead of her. That way, there will be no room left in jail for the child. In a greater context, the story highlights the absolute failure of the world to vanquish pedophilia, which it has declared public enemy #1 - with its frothing take-no-prisoners, pulling-their-hair out frustration over making no dent in the pandemic, and so wildly overswinging to compensate. It is the frenzied carpenter who misses the nail and then furiously hammers ten times more, again missing each time. This is how it is with zealots who see their cause and nothing else – and the world is full of such people. It mirrors the Arizona law of 2015 criminalizing contact with the private areas of any child under 15 REGARDLESS OF INTENT. Prosecutors did not back down even when it was pointed out that the law criminalizes parents changing diapers. No “sane or reasonable prosecutor” is going to misuse the law that way, they said. That is reassuring, but what about the insane and unreasonable ones? Will the law be repealed? Not easily. Just try repealing it and political enemies will scream you are being soft of pedophiles – no politician dares risk that. Meanwhile, Jehovah’s Witnesses, of all people, get caught in the cross-fire of pedophilia for doing what no other religion attempts to do. Where there are reports of wrongdoing in their midst, they investigate, so as to keep the congregation morally clean – an obligation they feel before God. There is the unfortunate by-product that their name is always attached to pedophiles within their ranks, something that happens nowhere else. No other faith dreams their members should actually apply Christian conduct in their lives. No other faith looks into such things – preach Sunday and be done with it - and thus rarely learn of them. Thus pedophiles, who appear to be every third person on the planet, especially when the statute of limitations is forever, and the 14-year old and folks changing diapers are included, are never ever identified with any religion (unless they are clergy), with but a single exception. The book I am almost finished with about Witness persecution in Russia will contain individual chapters on all charges made against Witnesses. ‘Pedophilia’ will be one of them, even though the subject did not arise there, strangely. It has arisen most everywhere else and it is only a matter of time there. The Russian embassy to the U.S. recently did mention the topic in a tweet, attempting to justify its ban – the first such mention I have ever seen, despite years of flinging dirt in that country to see what will stick. Even my shoving match with @Ann O'Maly over who has the best child-protective video is in the pedophile chapter.